Republicans Smack DOJ for Not Cooperating With Oversight Investigation

In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell,
acting-Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, and DOJ Inspector General Michael
Horowitz, two senior lawmakers in the Republican House leadership said it was
time for the Department of Justice to hire a second independent counsel to look
into the agency’s botched handling of two major 2016 investigations: Russian
election interference and the Hillary Clinton email scandal.

The letter, written by U.S. Reps Bob Goodlatte and Trey
Gowdy, urged the DOJ leadership to “investigate these matters, consistent with
your jurisdiction, so the final definitive accounting can be made to the American
people.”

In their letter, Goodlatte and Gowdy effectively drew to an
end the House investigations into these issues – issues that Democrats have
already signaled will not be a priority when they take over control of the
chamber next week. But neither Republican was pleased with the way the
investigation went, blaming the Department of Justice for standing in the way
of effective oversight.

“Regrettably, our joint investigation was impacted by
institutional protectionism on the part of the DOJ and FBI,” they wrote. “For
example, the agencies delayed the production of relevant documents and failed
to provide witnesses in a timely manner. DOJ continues to refuse to declassify
documents necessary to the investigation despite the President’s request [that]
the documents be declassified.”

For their part, Democrats are solely interested in using the
various oversight committees as a campaign platform heading into 2020, the idea
being to swamp the Trump White House in so many investigations and bad media
coverage that it will be impossible for him to get his re-election effort off
the ground. And if it results in a meaningless House impeachment, so much the
better. In order to justify turning off these important investigations into the
DOJ’s 2016 conduct, senior Democrats have been assailing the Republicans as
providing “cover” for Trump.

“Our Republican colleagues seem intent on spending their
final days in power attempting to provide cover to President Trump and
attempting to re-litigate the Department of Justice’s decision not to prosecute
Secretary Clinton,” Reps. Jerry Nadler and Elijah Cummings said in a statement.

Gowdy and Goodlatte say that any insinuation that they were
trying to undermine Special Counsel Robert Mueller is unfair and untrue.

“Quite the opposite, whatever product is produced by the
special counsel must be trusted by Americans that requires asking tough but
fair questions about investigative techniques both employed and not employed,”
the letter said.

Exactly. Most Americans already see Mueller’s investigation
as an exercise in partisanship. And until we know WHY Hillary Clinton was let
off scot-free and WHY no one at the Justice Department can come out and explain
how the Trump/Russia investigation started, those serious questions will
remain. And Mueller’s final report, regardless of what it says, will be
regarded as a biased political document.